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Water 

I 

IN 


Colors 

THE 


Schoolroom 


by 

MILTON BRADLEY 


1900 

MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY" 
Springfield, Mass. 

NEW YORK. PHILADELPHIA. ATLANTA. SAN FRANCISCO. 

V. 


I 




15553 


Library of Conpyess. 

Two Copies Receded | 

JUL 6 1900 j 

Copyright entry 

ht ay 2% yov 
ft, /J 3 C (p 

SECOND COPY. 

Delivered to 

ORDER DIVISION, i 

JUL 6 1900 

64954 

Copyrighted, 

1900 , 

By Milton Bradley Co. 
Springfield, Mass. 





CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Introduction.5 

There are three forms of Water Colors . 17 

The Standard Mixing Palette . . .19 

The Standard Colors . . . . 21 

Popularity of the Moist Colors in Tubes . .21 

The use of Special Colors . . . . 22 

About the Paper for Water Color Painting . 24 

How to Mount a Sheet of Paper . . 26 

Paper for Special Work . . . .28 

Something about Brushes .... 30 

The Importance of a good Brush . . .31 

Cleanliness a prime Necessity ... 33 

How to begin Work . . . . .34 

Laying flat Washes . . . . . 35 

Some brief Directions . . . . .36 

Some special Styles of Treatment . . 37 

The Pupil must follow certain Rules . . 39 

Persistent Practice Required ... 40 



CONTENTS. 


Painting Autumn Leaves 
Brush Drawing .... 

The Pleasures of Painting 
Pupils must Learn to See correctly 
Never Retouch an Original Sketch 
The Brewster Theory of Color . 

Yellow and Blue Light do not make Green 
Popularity of Water Color Painting 
The Six Spectrum Colors and two Grays 
Interesting Color Harmonies 
An Experiment in Complementary Contrasts 
The Study of Tints and Shades . 

Some Difficulties in Color Study 
Analysis of Popular Broken Colors 
Showing the Lamentable State of Color 
Language . 


41 

41 

42 

43 

44 

45 
47 
49 

51 

52 

53 
55 
57 
60 

62 


I 


INTRODUCTION. 


This little book is chiefly an attempt to give some 
simple but much-needed instructions in the use of 
water colors, but before proceeding to that task it 
may not be amiss to present a brief account of the 
steps taken by the child in color education, before 
this point is reached. 

A child should know something about the princi¬ 
ples of color and have some training in color com¬ 
binations before water colors are put into his hands, 
but these things can be taught to very young 
children, and it is surprising to find how early, 
under the modern methods of instruction, pupils 
will make an intelligent use of water colors. In 
many primary schools the children are taught the 
use of the brush in free-hand painting without pre¬ 
vious sketching with the pencil. 

The Kindergarten is the birthplace of the new 
interest in color, which is bringing such an element 
of brightness and beauty into our schools. Froebel 
used colored papers among the earliest of his appli¬ 
ances, and ever since his day they have been of the 
greatest benefit to the Kindergartner, owing to their 


6 


INTRODUCTION. 


convenience in handling, to their economy, and to 
the amount of training in both color and form to be 
derived from their use. 

For many years after the Kindergarten was 
started no satisfactory supply could be procured, 
either in Europe or in this country. The variety of 
colors was limited and uncertain, so much so that 
one could never be sure of duplicating any given 
color from the miscellaneous stocks in the market. 

There were so many complaints from the American 
Kindergartners, who greatly appreciated the value 
of the papers in their work, that, finally, Milton 
Bradley Company began the manufacture of colored 
papers expressly for educational purposes. They 
soon found they had undertaken a perplexing task, 
for there was no system nor scheme of color by 
which to be governed, no standards with which to 
make comparisons, and no authority of any kind 
among the Kindergartners, nor in fact elsewhere, 
except the aesthetic and fallible judgment of each 
individual. 

This unsettled condition, accompanying a grow¬ 
ing demand for the papers, soon demonstrated the 
importance of some radical action in the matter, 
and after much studious consideration, they decided 
to try to establish a set of standards, which should 
have a definite and permanent character and about 
which all other colors could be grouped. 

The solar spectrum seemed to be the natural 
place to find color standards, and from this source 
a committee of competent experts selected six 


INTRODUCTION. 


( 

colors, which seemed to stand out more distinctly 
than all others, namely; red, orange, yellow, green, 
blue and violet. 

There are a countless number of color rays in 
the spectrum, from the dark red at one end to 
the dark violet at the opposite end. According to 
the undulatory theory, these rays are transmitted 
through an extremely rare medium called ether. 
The vibrations or waves move with almost incredi¬ 
ble rapidity and are of various lengths, and as the 
wave length of each particular ray can be accu¬ 
rately determined, it becomes possible to choose 
any desirable locations in the spectrum and distin¬ 
guish them in such a manner that they can be 
refound at any time. 

The committee having the matter in charge 
accordingly selected, with great unanimity of judg¬ 
ment, the reddest spot in the red section, the bluest 
spot in the blue portion, and so on with the four 
others. Each of these locations was then accu¬ 
rately designated by its wave length, and now, in 
this system, when red is spoken of it means just 
that particular red which is found in that particular 
spot in the spectrum. 

This had never been done before in any system, 
but having been done now, we are furnished with 
six definite, unchangeable standards, by the use of 
which in combinations, all other colors can be closely 
imitated. Any larger number than six would be 
unnecessary, making a more complex nomenclature 
and not being needed for the production of other 


8 


INTRODUCTION. 


colors. On the other hand, there could not be less 
than six standards in any practical color system, 
because it is not possible to make either of the six 
prominent colors, in anything like its spectrum 
purity, by the mingling of other colors. 

A scheme, for instance, founded on the exploded 
theory of Sir David Brewster, can have no value in 
color education. We use the word “ exploded ” 
advisedly, because all the recent scientific writers 
bear us out in it. This so-called three-color theory 
names red, yellow and blue as the primary colors, 
and claims that by combining them in pairs the 
other principal colors are produced. That is, red 
and yellow will make orange, yellow and blue will 
make green and blue and red will make violet. 

The simplest experiments with modern appliances 
prove how false these claims are. The fact that, 
on the color wheel and by all methods of mingling 
light-rays, yellow and blue make white or neutral 
gray without a suspicion of green, ought to be 
enough to condemn the theory at once. But it lives 
on account of the further fact that, in pigments , 
yellow and blue do make certain kinds of green. 
This is called by modern investigators an accidental 
effect, because, in all experiments with the colored 
light of the spectrum, yellow and blue act as compli- 
mentaries and produce practically white light, as 
when thrown together upon a screen. 

But even in pigments, no satisfactory results can 
be obtained by such combinations as are called for 
by this theory. Nothing like the brilliant orange 


INTRODUCTION. 


9 


of the spectrum can be made with red and yellow, 
and the greens and violets produced by mixing 
yellow and blue, and blue and red, are dull, 
broken colors. 

Having secured the six permanent standards, the 
originators of the Bradley system next selected 
two intermediate spectrum hues between each pair 
of standards, and, instead of scouring the fields of 
literature for fanciful and arbitrary names, they 
adopted the simplest and most easily remembered 
nomenclature imaginable. Between the standard 
red and the standard orange for example, there is a 
wide strip of color running all the way from red to 
orange. In this strip two locations were chosen. 
That nearer the red was red with a tinge of orange, 
and this was called orange-red. The other was 
nearer the orange, and, being orange with a tinge 
of red, was called red-orange. All the other inter¬ 
mediate hues were named in the same way, giving, 
with the six standards, a list of eighteen spectrum 
colors, all named without using a word except the 
old, familiar names that everybody knows. 

It may be explained that there is no red-violet 
nor violet-red in the spectrum itself, as the red at 
one end and the violet at the other fade away into 
darkness. But if we imagine a spectrum made into 
a circle, with the ends joined, we can see that the 
red and violet if mingled as the other adjacent 
standards are would make the missing colors. And 
as red-violet and violet-red are found in nature, they 
are added to complete the spectrum circuit. 


10 


INTRODUCTION. 


In order to increase the variety of colors in the 
papers a scale of five tones is made in each of 
the eighteen spectrum colors. The normal color 
forms the center of the scale with tint No. 1 and 
tint No. 2 on the left, while on the right are shade 
No. 1 and shade No. 2. 

We have now eighteen scales of five tones each 
or ninety colors, and it will be seen that the nomen¬ 
clature is still simple enough for the youngest 
pupils to grasp and remember. The ninety colors 
are all named without using a single unfamiliar word. 

o O 

All these intermediate colors and an infinite num¬ 
ber of others can be made with the color top or on 
the “color wheel.” The well-known Maxwell rotat¬ 
ing disks have introduced another really fascinating 
feature into color education, inferior only to work 
with the glass prism and water colors. 

Many interesting and valuable experiments are 
performed with these disks, and, moreover, by their 
use, there has been devised the only method ever 
proposed for giving a name to every possible color. 

The device is as follows: There is placed first 
on the wheel a disk larger than the colored ones and 
with its circumference divided into a hundred parts. 
Then when the colored disks are put on over the 
graduated disk, being slitted and so adjusted that 
part of one is exposed to view and part of another, 
it is a simple thing to tell just how much of each 
color is used. For example, if the disks are 
arranged so as to show red 18 parts, violet 14, 
white 5 and black 63, and rapidly rotated, the re- 


INTRODUCTION. 


11 


suit will be a color that ha9 been called “raisin.” 

This name is about as distinctive and sensible as 
“ elephant’s breath,” “prairie,” “ absinthe,” “ dove 
color,” etc., scores of such meaningless names 
being used. But they are not much less useful, 
after all, than names which attempt to be dis¬ 
tinctive, such as light blue, dark blue, deep blue, 
navy blue, sky blue, baby blue, and the like. 

By the use of the old methods of naming it would 
not be possible for a man to telegraph or write the 
description of a color so that his correspondent 
would be able to match it. There is not language 
enough to do it. The only thing for him to do 
would be to send a sample. But if both were pro¬ 
vided with color tops and disks in the standard 
colors, one man could set up the color he wanted 
on the top and telegraph a few words, by which 
the other man, with his top, could reproduce the 
color exactly. Suppose the telegram should read 
simply, “Blue 75, black 25,” the color would be a 
shade of blue, or dark blue, and the correspondent 
would be able to match it. But if he had merely 
been told that a dark blue was wanted he would 
have been obliged to answer, “ How dark a blue? 
Send a sample.” 

In speaking of the Brewster theory, above, the 
fact was brought out that the results obtained by 
the mingling of colored lights do not always coincide 
with the effects produced by mixing the same colors 
in pigments. The subject is so interesting that it 
will be worth while to enlarge on it a little. 


12 


INTRODUCTION. 


In our experiments with the rotating disks we get 
practically the same effects as are found in nature, 
as when the variously colored autumn leaves on a 
distant tree send back to us flashes of solid color, 
which an artist could never make by combining the 
colors of the individual leaves in pigments. As 
another example, let a piece of yellow lace be laid 
upon a blue surface, and what is the effect when 
looked at from a little distance? Not green, as 
might rightly be expected by one who never experi¬ 
mented in anything but pigments, but a good gray. 
In the same manner, the backgrounds of colored 
prints are sometimes modified by mingling dots of 
yellow and blue without allowing them to overlap 
each other, and a beautiful, almost transparent gray 
results. If printed out of register so that the dots 
cover each other the color would be green. 

The three-color theory, which has retarded the 
study of color a score or more of years, makes not 
the least account of the above phenomena, which, 
to-day, are known by every Kindergarten child who 
has had the advantage of playing with the color top. 

The fact that yellow and blue paints make green 
causes a good deal of trouble whenever color instruc¬ 
tion is attempted with only the three standards, red, 
yellow and blue. But the difficulty is avoided by 
the use of six standards in water colors, because the 
pupils are taught to mix only the pairs of adjacent 
colors in the spectrum circuit; i. e. the six standards 
in a circle. Thus yellow and green are combined, 
also green and blue, but never yellow and blue. If a 


INTRODUCTION. 


13 


shade of green is wanted it is easily made by mix¬ 
ing black with the standard green. 

It will take but a few moments to show that it 
is really true that yellow and blue pigments, com¬ 
bined, make a shade of green, and we will add a 
pretty little experiment with the color top, to see just 
how much black this shade contains. 

It is to be understood that tints are made by mix¬ 
ing white with a pure color or by thinning the pig¬ 
ments with water, while shades result from the 
mixture of a pure color with black, or with a black 
slightly modified for some colors. 

It is a well known fact that all pigments lose in 
luminosity on being mixed with each other. When 
we have six pigmentary spectrum colors, as red, 
orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, we get, by 
combining them in pairs of adjacent colors, very 
satisfactory intermediate hues, but the new colors 
thus formed are always slightly less pure and intense 
than either of the standard colors forming the com¬ 
bination. 

Thus, if we mix red and orange, the orange-red or 
red-orange which is made is not quite as pure as 
either the red or the orange alone, though pure 
enough for ordinary purposes. If, however, we 
jump the orange entirely and mix our red and yellow, 
we get what we should naturally expect, a shade of 
orange or broken orange, not at all like the beau¬ 
tiful, pure orange in the spectrum. So it must be, 
also, with the green, made from yellow and blue, 
and with the violet or purple, from the red and blue. 


14 


INTRODUCTION. 


In the three-color system, therefore, the results 
derived from the full outfit would consist of a good 
full red, a shade of orange, a full yellow, shade of 
green, full blue and shade of violet. 

Now the experiment; the object of which is to 
show that a green, for example, made by mixing 
yellow and blue paints must always be a dull, 
broken color. We will suppose we have a color 
top with disks of two sizes and a box of the Bradley 
standard water colors. Take one of the small 
disks and paint the back of it with green made by 
mixing yellow and blue paint from the box. Then 
paint the back of one of the large disks with green 
from the box. You will see at once that the small 
disk is much duller and darker than the large one, 
but to find the exact difference between the two, 
take the larger one and combine it with a black 
disk of the same size so that a little of the black 
shows, and place them on the top. Now place the 
small painted disk also on the top and rotate. The 
small disk will still be the darker. Re-adjust the 
large disks so as to show more black and rotate 
again. Continue to do so until the two greens corre¬ 
spond in color when rotated, and you will find that 
the lower one is by that time nearly half black, 
which proves that the upper green, made by mixing 
yellow and blue is also nearly half black. 

Surely it is not necessary to use such a color for 
a principal color when we can imitate so much 
closer the pure green of the spectrum by a single 
pigment. 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


The success of the Bradley Educational colored 
papers in the kindergarten and primary school has 
been remarkable, and when the time arrives for the 
children who have been familiar with these papers to 
take up water colors, it is of the greatest advantage 
to them to find that all they have previously learned 
is to help them in their new work. 

The Bradley standard water colors, being made 
in imitation of the six standard colors of the spec¬ 
trum, complete the only logical system of color in¬ 
struction ever devised, and pupils pass from one 
branch of the system to another with the greatest 
pleasure. Finding the same number of colors, the 
same names and the same meaning to all the color 
terms, they can begin at once to learn how to handle 
the material found in the color boxes, and this is 
what we shall undertake to tell them in the remainder 
of this book. 









WATER COLORS 

IN THE 

SCHOOLROOM. 


The Kindergarten child does not come untrained 
to the pleasing task of handling water colors. In 
cutting and mounting the colored papers he has 
learned to be neat and careful and to use his fingers 
with some dexterity, while his eyes have been 
educated to a true perception of color sensations. 

These things are of great assistance in his new 
work, and it is well that he has had this training, 
for the practice of water color painting, even if 
followed no further than the primary school, has its 
own difficulties and perplexities. But these are 
more than counterbalanced by its great utility in 
helping to discover the latent aesthetic feeling 
which dwells in most children. 

There are three TT is first necessary to speak 
forms of * about the selection of mater- 

Water Colors. i a j s # 

For water color painting, colors are now prepared 
in three forms, as follows : Dry colors, made in 
hard cakes; semi-moist, put up in small pans of 
various sizes and material; and moist colors in 
collapsible tubes. 



18 


WA TER COLORS 


In addition to these forms, the only kinds 
approaching the requirements of true water color 
painting, there are liquid colors, practically nothing 
more than colored inks which are used in some 
sections for freehand outline drawing with the 
brush, in place of crayon or charcoal exercises. 
The character of these inks precludes their use in 
anything like true water color painting in nature 
work. 

Dry colors in cakes were the earliest water colors 
in use when this style of painting was little more 
than a pencil sketch, colored in practically flat 
washes. Although there are still some artists who 
believe they find finer and purer colors in this form 
than in any other, the element of convenience wfill 
prevail to limit the use of dry colors when other 
forms can be procured. The labor and time neces¬ 
sary to wash up the dry color, make its use quite 
tedious, even for small work, and render it entirely 
impracticable for large and forceful painting. 

Semi-moist colors in pans are more readily pre¬ 
pared for use than dry cakes and are every way 
more convenient, but of course they are only to be 
preferred when they are of equal quality. For large 
work, when greater quantities of paint are wanted, 
the tube colors are required. 

These three forms, dry cakes, semi-moist in 
pans and moist in tubes furnish a variety of water 
colors suitable for all grades of work from the 
primary school to the artist’s studio. For school 
purposes each of these forms will find advocates, 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


19 


according to the work to be done and the personal 
preference of the teacher. 

If the cakes or pans are used, each pupil should 
be provided with his own box of colors and be held 
responsible for its proper care. If the tube colors 
are used, each child must have a tray or something 
to serve as a palette, on which the teacher may, 
from time to time, place a small amount of color 
from one or more of the tubes as the work of each 
lesson may require. 


The Standard "DOR best results with tube colors, 
Mixing ^ each pupil should be provided 

Palette* with a mixing palette similar to the 

one shown in the accompanying drawing. A con¬ 
venient size is about seven inches long by three 
wide. Such trays, made of enameled tin, are in 
the market. 



It will be seen by the illustration that there are 
seven small compartments along one side, in one or 
more of which the teacher may place a small 

























20 


WA TER COLORS 


amount of color from the tubes. The other side 
is divided into two mixing compartments. 

For school instruction these pans and the tube 
colors may be used with great convenience. The 
teacher may place the color in the pans as it is 
required, and in such quantities as the lessons in 
hand may reasonably call for. For example, begin¬ 
ning with a lesson in red and green, a small amount 
of each of these colors may be put into the com¬ 
partments indicated by the letters R and G, and 
possibly some neutral gray in the one at the ex¬ 
treme right end. When it is desirable to add 
another color the pigment from its tube can be put 
into its proper pan, in spectrum order. In this 
way it is easy to avoid wasting color, as it will not 
be necessary to wash out the color pans. The mix¬ 
ing pans can be cleaned by wiping them out with 
blotting paper or other soft material. 

The form of these pans is such that if every one 
of the small compartments intended for the paints 
is filled, the trays may be nested, by reversing each 
alternate tray and placing it in the one below with¬ 
out causing the bottom of one tray to come in con¬ 
tact with the paint in the one beneath. Thus-at the 
close of each lesson, the trays may be rapidly 
collected and put away in comparatively small space 
with each set of colors protected from dust by the 
palette above it. 

These mixing trays or palettes are also put up for 
market with the small compartments all filled with 
water colors, representing the six standards and 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


21 


neutral gray. A good brush is added and the 
whole inclosed in a neat cardboard case or box for 
use in the home, and they may be advantageously 
used in schools where the public officials do not 
provide material for color instruction, as the few 
cents necessary for their purchase will readily be 
contributed by the parents of the pupils. These 
sets are called the Little Artists’ Complete Outfit. 


The Standard TN a box of “ Standard ” water 
Colors* colors there are eight cakes or 

pans, one each of the six standard colors and two 
grays, placed in this order, beginning at the left: 
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, warm gray, 
cool gray. There is also a brush and handle. 
In the tube colors a neutral gray and Chinese white 
are added, making ten colors in all. Each tube has 
a label with the name of the color. 

There are great possibilities in this simple palette, 
for by proper combinations almost any color wanted 
can be produced. The grays are provided because 
they are better than black for making delicate 
shades, the warm gray being used with red, orange 
and yellow, and the cool gray with green, blue and 
violet. Tints are made by simply adding more 
water, or by mixing white pigment with the color. 




Popularity of THE tube colors are exceedingly 
the Moist Colors popular with many artists who 
* n Tubes* have been in the habit of painting 

in oil, because no time is required to prepare con- 


22 


WA TER COLORS 


siderable quantities of color. For out-of-door work 
they are very convenient. This form is also pop¬ 
ular in connection with white, prepared in the same 
style, thus, in a degree imitating oil pigments. 
Indeed, for sketching, water color work has one 
advantage over oil, that of drying quickly, thus 
preventing injury in handling the picture. 

But the tube colors are even more practicable than 
either of the other forms in primary instruction, if 
each child is furnished with a fairly good brush with 
wooden handle and a metal palette like the one de¬ 
scribed above. 

The method of using this tray is so simple that 
perhaps further explanation is unnecessary. But 
the idea is that each color has its own pan and 
should always be kept in this order, beginning at 
the left: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet 
and black or gray. If a little color is left in the 
compartments at the end of the lesson it can remain 
for the next lesson, the trays, when collected, being 
nested as before described. 

The two large pans in the tray are for mixing, 
when washes of color are prepared for filling in out¬ 
line forms already printed or drawn; or one or both 
of these trays may be used for mixing colors, as on 
a palette, in case thin washes are not required. 

JT is not necessary to describe the 
several colors, since the children 
are already familiar with their ap¬ 
pearance and their names from the colored papers, 


The use 
of Special 
Colors. 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM . 


23 


and it lias been found by experience that they 
readily learn to use the brush to good purpose. 

When the pupil is far enough advanced to exer¬ 
cise individual choice in pigments, and the color 
sense is well founded, then it will be perfectly prop¬ 
er to allow the young artist to choose special 
colors. For example, carmine and crimson lake 
are both violet-reds, and the carmine is a purer 
violet-red than can be made by mixing the red and 
violet standards. Possibly there may be secured 
sometime a standard red as pure for a red as car¬ 
mine is for a violet-red, but even then the carmine 
will be purer than a combination. 

Artists must always have for special uses colors 
which are not necessary nor desirable in the ele¬ 
mentary work of the schools. But a too limited 
palette and a too varied selection of colors are both 
to be avoided in early instruction, before the truths 
of color are firmly fixed in the mind. When this is 
once accomplished and the principles of color com¬ 
binations in a logical order fully developed, the 
palette may be enlarged at pleasure, but by that time 
the education will have reached such a stage that a 
dozen colors, all told, will comprise the outfit for 
nine-tenths of all the work attempted. 

If a very limited palette seems necessary, red, 
yellow and blue will suffice to imitate all colors in 
nature and the arts better than any other three. 
Without a neutral gray or black, however, no shades 
of red, yellow and blue can be simply secured, so 
that with no gray the production of a shade of red, 


24 


WA TER COLORS 


for example, can only be obtained by the addition 
of both yellow and blue in exactly the proper pro¬ 
portion. It is true that red, yellow and blue paints, 
combined in the light proportions, will produce a 
black, so that there is a point where all three will 
make a broken shade of either of them. But all 
such work in mixing is far too complex for ele¬ 
mentary instruction, and the red, yellow and blue 
box of water colors is a weak makeshift, put both 
on the false plea of economy, for as already stated, 
there is no economy, as it will take just so much 
paint to cover a given space, no matter whether it 
comes from three cakes or seven. 

A very effective argument against the three color 
system is found in the fact that not only do we find 
that when two of the pigments are combined the 
disks of the color top show that the result is nearly 
half black, but also we find, as noted above, that 
with the three pigments, red, yellow and blue, 
combined in certain proportions, an exceedingly 
good black is the result. 



Painting* i 8 g rea ^ importance, and it is 


well for beginners to know good paper from poor, 
even if they cannot always have the best. To show 
how much depends upon the paper in the making of 
a picture, it may be stated that so much care is ex¬ 
pended on its manufacture and finish, that some 
kinds are sold at retail for from one to two dollars 
a sheet. 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


25 


In oil painting the tints and high lights are 
secured by the use of white pigments, but in water 
colors the paper itself is more commonly made to 
serve that purpose, especially in elementary in¬ 
struction, the white surface of the paper showing 
the transparent washes of color. 

The paper therefore should be pure white so that 
the various tints put upon it may not be modified 
by any color in the paper. The surface should be 
rough but not with a regular geometrical grain. 
The unevenness should consist of slight, rounded 
inequalities irregular in size and form, which break 
up the light falling upon the painting and cause it 
to reflect a variety of tint and shade. Very thin 
paper must be avoided as it is too much affected by 
the water used in thin washes. 

For the convenience of beginners, paper of fair 
quality is put up in pads of various sizes. If these 
are well glued on four sides and provided with good, 
stiff backs so that the paper will not warp, they will 
serve the purpose for elementary work. But it is 
absolutely necessary to satisfactory work of any 
kind that the paper be flat and laid on a flat surface. 

The surface of the paper should not be too rough, 
and yet should have sufficient texture to take and 
retain the color. If too fine and smooth an in¬ 
artistic flatness and want of brilliancy is the result. 
But if too rough, the effect is often harsh and 
course, and the details cannot be executed with 
sufficient clearness. For simple sketches, however, 
a rough surface is often very favorable, the pro- 


26 


WA TER COLORS 


jections of the material causing sparkling lights and 
shadows, which is very pleasing, and effective. If 
a paper is slack sized, the whole appearance is poor 
and dead, but if too strongly sized the color will 
not wash well on it, and will be streaky. 

All smooth paper should be discarded. 

It must be noted that there is a right side and 
a wrong side to all paper. If there is a water mark 
of the maker’s name or other device, the right side 
is that from w r hich the words can be read in their 
proper order, when the sheet is held to the light. 

The paper must be selected with relation to the 
subject to be executed. If it is a landscape, or still 
life on a large scale, in a broad style, the heavy, 
large sheets of Whatman paper or some other 
similar in character, are desirable. But if the 
drawing is smaller or with much detail, a surface 
not too rough is more suitable and a lighter paper 
may be employed. 

If a machine-made paper is used, s the difference 
in texture of face and back is seen by the impression 
of the woven wire of the paper machine which 
gives a regular fine netting appearance, on the 
back, while the face shows no such regularity of 
figure, w'hich is undesirable in water color work. 

How to Mount TF a single sheet is used it should 
a Sheet of be dampened and stretched 

Paper* on a board. To do this properly 

cut your sheet one inch larger all around than the 
size of the board ; then lay it on the board, work- 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


27 


ing side up, and thoroughly sponge it with cold 
water and a soft sponge, but do not bear with any 
unnecessary force on the paper, as even with extra 
quality paper, it is possible to permanently injure 
the texture of the surface. If a piece of paper not 
larger than the board is to be mounted, the margin 
must, of course, be glued to the top surface of the 
board. 

The paper should be sponged just the same, and 
it will be useful to turn the edges up about half an 
inch all around, so that the part of the paper to 
receive the glue will not get very wet. 

First apply the glue to one of the longer sides of 
the paper and at once rub down that edge to its 
place along one side of the board. Then glue the 
opposite edge of the sheet, and, drawing the paper 
with a firm hold, quickly rub the glued margin down 
with a paper knife or other instrument. Care must 
be observed to draw the paper equally at all points, 
and better results are secured if the center of each 
edge is first glued in place and rubbed down each 
way to the corners, observing that no wrinkles are 
drawn into the sheet. The two long sides having 
been secured, glue each end in a similar manner. 
Do not attempt to dry rapidly, but put the board 
away until another lesson, standing it on its edge 
in a protected place, not near unusual heat. 

LePage’s or other fish glue is the most convenient 
substance to use as it has consistency enough to 
hold the paper in place until the glue “sets” and 
when not used too freely, this glue will set before 


28 


V/A TER COLORS 


the paper will dry sufficiently to draw itself away 
from the board. 

In mounting a sheet of paper, whatever its size 
or quality may be, rapidity of action is desirable in 
order that the four sides may be entirely fastened 
before the paper dries sufficiently to produce much 
tension at any part. 

It is well to cut a slit diagonally at each corner, 
or cut out the entire corner of the paper. If a 
large sheet of heavy paper is to be mounted it may 
be expedient to leave a margin wide enough to 
double entirely around the edge of the board on 
four sides, and glue to the back of the board. In 
this way practically no strain can be brought on the 
glue. In fact in such cases, glue is not absolutely 
necessary, because with the double turn over the 
two edges of the board, large headed carpet tacks 
inserted every one or two inches on the back 
side of the board, and driven down firmly, will 
hold a heavy paper, because the bulk of the strain 
is taken up by the fold over the edges of the board, 
but this method of mounting is not recommended 
unless it seems necessary from lack of a good glue 
on special occasions. 

t 

Paper for TX introductory work in sketching 
Special from models or from nature anv 

woi'K* ,veil-sized, fairly thick paper, not 

heavily calendered will be satisfactory. But as soon 
as a pupil shows ability to handle the color material 
and to draw from nature with a reasonable decree 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


29 


of correctness, it is desirable that the paper be of 
such quality as to allow of an artistic use of the 
colors, because of the encouragement and enthusi- 
asm which will be inspired by successful working. 

The value of the Whatman brand of paper is 
found in its strength and its ability to stand wetting 
and washing to almost any extent, the uniformity 
of texture and the care with which those sheets 
which are sold as first quality are selected by 
experts before putting on the market. Thus one 
using thi3 grade of paper does not take the risk of 
discovering, when a good start has been made on 
a painting, that an imperfection in the paper causes 
a blotch that at best can be corrected or overcome 
only by technical experience and careful handling. 

While all this is allowed for this paper which is 
hand made and has the maker's name in every sheet, 

V 

it is too costly to be used in elementary educational 
work, and there are now in the market very good 
substitutes for all grades of water color instruction. 
But an intelligent buyer for school uses will not 
attempt to furnish the same grade of drawing paper, 
and especially water color paper, for all schools. 

Not only should the quality of the paper be im¬ 
proved as the ability of the pupils is advanced, but 
the thickness should be increased as the size of 
sheet is enlarged. Otherwise a sheet even though 
stretched on the drawing board will be liable 
to become disagreeably cockled in working rapidly, 
especially with the wet process which at times is 
necessary to some extent in any method of working. 


30 


WA TER COLORS 


Something 1 "UOR water color painting the chief 
about **■ requisites of a good brush are 

Brushes* elasticity and form. Whether the 

brush be large or small, it should have a good body 
and a good point. That is, it must not run out to 
a very long point but be rounded out from the quill 
or ferrule to the center and then gracefully curve 
to a good point, not only when wet with water or 
paint but also when dry. The brush must also be 
elastic enough to fly back to its shape when pressed. 

As good a point may be had on a large brush as 
on a small one, and it is particularly desirable that 
the brush be not too small for the work in hand. 
Two or three brushes, including a wide one for 
large washes, are convenient. 

A good brush deserves good treatment, and it 
should never be put away without first being 
thoroughly cleaned. When put into the box or 
tray, care should be taken that the point is not left 
resting against any surface which will bend or twist 
it as it dries. 

Use a large brush rather than a small one, because 
everything can be accomplished with a large brush 
if of good point, that can be done with a small 
one, and one brush is saved. 

Camel’s hair or red sable brushes in quills are 
good enough for beginners. 

If semi-moist paints are used the wet brush is to 
be lightly rubbed on the surface of the paint and 
the color transferred to the palette. 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


31 


The importance T* HE selection of brushes for 
of a good water color painting in the 

TJ 1- 

orusn* elementary schools is a matter 

of importance next to, if not equal to, the choice 
of the colors themselves. 



Fig. 3. Fig. 2. Fig. 1. 

affording good service 
paper to be covered at 


Unfortunately the low 
price which must be of¬ 
fered on paints and brushes 
to secure their introduc¬ 
tion into some schools by 
those who must authorize 
the expense, often results 
in the use of the cheap¬ 
est goods that can be 
found, and in many cases 
very little attention is 
given to the brushes, even 
though the influence of 
intelligent teachers may 
have fortunately secured 
satisfactory colors. The 
accompanying i 11 u s t r a- 
tions show three brushes 
of typical sizes and 
grades. 

Figure 1 is a g o o d 
quality quill brush of a 
small size, called “ Goose 
quill ” but capable of 
when the surface of the 
one time is not too large. 


























































32 


IVA TER COLORS 


This brush when provided with a wood handle and 
used with a fairly good line of paints is capable of 
producing very satisfactory work, if the subjects 
to be colored are not larger than primary grades 
should be asked to undertake. 

Figure 2 is a fair representation of the cheap 
brush found in toy paints, and even furnished to 
some schools. It is a brush , and that is the best 
that can be said of it. The hairs cannot be brought 
to a fine point, and the only recommendation for it 
is its cheapness. 

Figure 3 is a medium size known as No. 3 in 
brown or red sable with metal mounting and wood 
handle. Such a brush may be used for all kinds 
and sizes of work, embracing both moderately large 
washes and fine details. Figure 1, provided with a 
handle, and Figure 3 furnish an outfit of brushes 
sufficient for even serious and valuable art work. 
The only other kind of brush necessary is a good 
size flat one in red sable or camel’s hair, for such 
washes as skies, and foreground, in advanced 
work of large size. For elementary work this is 
not required. 

Brown sable furnishes the best all-round brush 
for water color painting. In some cases, however, 
in advanced work the red sable is most valuable; 
for example, when a rather stiff foreground color is 
used in large work. It is stronger and firmer but 
does not retain so good a point; especially useful 
when body white is used. 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


33 


Cleanliness JT is not the aim of this little book 
a prime to deal with mere abstract art 

Necessity* conditions, but rather to afford aid 
to the Kindergartners and other teachers who desire 
to give children the benefit of water color work and 
yet have not received the practical instruction in 
the art necessary to inspire confidence. 

In an occupation where careless habits are so 
fatal to success, one of the first things to teach 
is cleanliness. 

Clean water, clean paper, and a clean brush and 
palette are essentials, and it is not such a difficult 
matter to have them as might be supposed. The 
palette and brushes should be thoroughly cleaned 
before they are put away after having been used, 
as it can then be done so much more easily and 
perfectly, than after the paint has dried on them. 
This applies with special force to the brushes, be¬ 
cause a first-class brush can be practically ruined 
for good work by want of care in washing and 
neglect in laying away. A water color brush of 
good quality may be nearly as good as new after 
years of use, or it may be ruined in the opinion of 
an artist, by being carelessly left charged with color, 
and possibly the point bent out of shape by contact 
with the box. 

In some colors a cake left quite moist after using 
with the brush will, if the practice be too often re¬ 
peated, crack and crumble, and thus be wasted. It 
is better to wipe off the moist color when leaving 
it. When not in use the color box should always 


34 


WA TER COLORS 


be closed, no matter what form of color is used. 
The protection from dust, especially in the semi- 
moist colors, is of sufficient importance to insure 
careful attention on this point. If “moist in 
tubes ” is used, always return the screw cap to its 
place after carefully removing any surplus paint 
which may have flowed over onto the screw. Other¬ 
wise the cap may become cemented to the tube, so 
that in order to get at the color the other end of the 
tube must be cut off, which will necessarily result 
in exposing the paint to the air to some extent and 
consequently the drying of the color if not fre¬ 
quently in use. 

TF work is being done on a level table 
the drawing board or pad contain¬ 
ing the paper on which the water colors 
are to be used, should be so arranged as to in¬ 
cline toward the front at an angle about the same 
as a school desk. An outline must first be drawn 
in pencil of every object which is to be painted, and 
the colors should follow the outline as closely as 
possible. For the outlines use a fine, pointed pencil, 
making the lines so light that they will not show in 
the painting. 

Having prepared what is thought to be a suitable 
amount of paint for the work in hand, either in one 
of the large compartments of the mixing palette or 
on some other dish, thoroughly saturate the brush in 
the color, being careful to see that all sediment, if 


How to 

begin 

Work. 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


35 


any, is well mixed each time new color is taken into 
the brush. 

At first it may seem difficult to lay the color on 
smoothly, but practice and patience with a steady 
hand will accomplish much. Begin to apply the 
color at the top left hand corner of such part of the 
design as is to receive it. If the brush is properly 
charged with color, a small puddle will be formed 
under and following it, and if this begins to dis¬ 
appear before the required surface is covered, the 
brush must again be charged, and the color must be 
stirred up each time any is taken from the pan in 
order to insure a uniformity of color. The re¬ 
charging of the brush must be done as rapidly as 
possible, and before the edge of the color already 
applied has become dry at any point. If this is not 
observed a spot or streak will appear where the new 
color joins the old. When changing pigments the 
brush must be thoroughly cleaned in order to secure 
pure colors. 

Laying flat LXAVINGr begun to color at the 
Washes* ^ upper left hand corner of the 

design, work toward the lower right hand corner, 
painting accurately to the outline all around. Never 
allow the color in the brush to become nearly ex¬ 
hausted until the surface to be treated with that 
wash is almost covered. Work with a fairly full 
brush, nearly to the finish and then, having partly 
cleaned the brush on blotting or other waste paper, 


36 


WA TER COLORS 


take up with the brush the puddle of color left on 
the paper before the end or final corner is quite 
reached. If these precautions are not observed one 
of two things will be likely to occur ; either there will 
be a small puddle left in the corner which, when 
dry, will be too strong in color, or else, the brush 
having run too dry, the last corner of the wash will 
be lighter than the general surface. 

In coloring a large surface always let the paper 
be inclined toward the front sufficiently to cause the 
color to flow in that direction and to follow the 
brush readily. When a large surface is to be cov¬ 
ered with a flat wash dampen the paper beforehand 
within the outline with a large brush, so that, dur¬ 
ing the process, the edges of color may not dry too 
quickly, and thus produce the unsightly lines of 
deeper color where not intended, but coloring must 
not be begun until all surface water has disappeared. 

Practice making washes perfectly flat from top to 
bottom and from corner to corner. 

Always allow one wash of color to dry before 
laying another over it. 

If possible each pupil should be seated so that the 
light will come from the left. 

Do not in any case turn your paper to accom¬ 
modate your stroke, but turn your arm instead. 

Some brief A few more simple things to be 
Directions* observed by teacher or pupil 

may be noted, even at the risk of a little repetition. 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM . 


37 


Never scrub the brush about at random. 

Never go back into wet paint to retouch. 

Do not allow the color in the brush to be too 
nearly exhausted before replenishing it. 

Stir the paint with the brush every time new 
color is taken; otherwise the wash will not be 
uniform. 

Use judgment in taking up color with the brush, 
taking all the brush will hold for large surfaces, 
but less for small surfaces. 

In mixing a wash for a definite purpose it is safe 
to try it on a bit of paper and allow it to dry before 
using, as it will be much lighter than it appears in 
the mixing pan or when wet on the paper. 

Not only clean the brush at the end of each 
lesson, but take care that it is drawn to a point on 
blotting paper or other absorbing substance. 

When dampening the paper before applying a 
wash, do not leave visible water on the surface. 

In taking color for a large wash, the brush should 
be well filled, and when half emptied refilled and 
applied at once to the edge of the wash already 
begun before it has dried, thus avoiding an unsightly 
line where the two washes are joined. For smaller 
surfaces, the brush being not so full of color, a better 
point can be kept for the smaller details of outline. 


Some special texture of stones, ground or 

Styles of 1 other rough surfaces such as 

Treatment* bushes in foreground, etc., the 
brush may be used nearly dry with heavy color and 


38 


WA TER COLORS 


passed over the paper, catching only the projections 
of the rough surface. One writer, referring to 
such practice, says : 

“ This mode of working, judiciously applied, is 
very successful. The best way of handling the 
brush for this is to use it spread out flat, like a fan, 
so as to divide it into many portions, resembling a 
narrow, irregular comb. In this state, being charged 
slightly with color, it may be used to give some of 
the finishing treatment for trees, grass and bushes. 
By this means much detail may be rapidly given 
with pleasing effect.” 

There is danger, however, that the beginner may 
resort too much to these or similar artifices, which 
demand much judgment and discrimination. 

A full brush will often be of great advantage 
iu blotting in deep shadows of small size, and where 
a sharpness of touch is desired. 

In beginning a landscape the sky, with the clouds 
if any, should be laid on in full strength as nearly 
as can be judged, and softened away where neces¬ 
sary with clean water, but still retaining the forms. 
The various objects in the composition should next 
be located, beginning with the most distant and 
ending with the foreground. 

The smaller lights too numerous to be left out 
may be secured by touching them in with water 
and blotting out with the blotting paper or smartly 
wiping them with a bit of cloth if a slight tint re¬ 
mains after blotting out. Or if there is still lacking 
the intense brilliancy required, touches of Chinese 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM . 


39 


white, slightly tinted, if necessary, will give the 
desired result. 

In the wet process of water color painting, dis¬ 
tinguished from the work done on dry paper, the 
peculiar effects of the mingling of colors on the 
paper which give this class of work its popularity, 
are obtained by rapid working with various colors 
while the entire surface of the picture is more or 
less wet. By this device a blending or mixing of 
colors is secured, one running into another and 
producing a series of beautifully soft effects which 
cannot be obtained in any other way. 

There is practically no definite dividing line 
between the several methods and oftentimes various 
methods may be adopted in one sketch or painting. 

The Pupil N the study of form, which in- 

must follow eludes the art of drawing, there 

certain Rules* are cer tain definitely established 
facts which cannot be ignored, and must not be 
violated ; but a strict observance of all such require¬ 
ments will not make an artist; and yet no one can 
hope to be an artist who violates these rules. So 
it is with color; as yet there may not be such 
definitely accepted laws of color, as there are of 
form, but without the knowledge of certain truths 
the production of artistic work cannot be guaranteed 
nor even expected. 

In the first place the young pupil must be able to 
draw the outlines within which to confine the color 


40 


WA TER COLORS 


or else these outlines must be furnished ready 
printed. In either case the work of painting must 
be done carefully, so that the color may flow up to 
the line at every point and not overrun it. In 
elementary work aimless daubing of colors, singly 
or in combinations, can be of very little educational 
value, and such practice is demoralizing in that it 
develops a slovenly habit. But a child who has 
had the training afforded by a modern Kindergarten, 
in the use of logically classified color material, will 
easily and naturally fall into line in the useful 
methods of water color work. 

Persistent T'HERE may be little art education 
Practice in applying color washes to plain 

Required, geometrical or other outline forms, 
whether they are printed on the paper or drawn by 
the pupil. But in such work there is the best kind of 
practice, attempting to lay a smooth wash, rapidly 
and neatly, and working closely to given outlines. 
Drawing paper ruled in one inch squares is of much 
use for such early practice in handling the brush 
and mixing paints. 

When one can accurately and rapidly lay a flat 
wash within definite outlines an important feature 
of water color work has been accomplished. The 
fact that there must often be rapidity of execution, 
accompanied by accuracy of form, determines the 
necessity for that preparation which can be secured 
only by persistent practice. For school work the 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


41 


outlines may be drawn mechanically or free hand, or 
paper ruled in one or two inch squares will do, if it 
is of sufficient weight and not too smooth. 

Painting pOR practical work involving small 
Autumn surfaces and the blending of colors, 

.Leaves* autumn leaves furnish useful subjects, 
and the maple, especially, gives pleasing variety in 
form and color. By the aid of these, early attempts 
to practice the wet process may be made. 

First, let the pupil lay a leaf on the paper and 
outline the form by marking around it. Then with 
a clean brush he may apply water to the surface 
inside the outline so as to dampen the paper uniform¬ 
ly. The leaf having thus been traced and the paper 
dampened, after the water has disappeard the color 
should be put on rapidly, the paints being applied 
in succession and allowed to flow into each other, 
assisted by the point of the brush here and there, 
to imitate the general appearance of the leaf. 

When the surface has been dried sufficiently a 
few of the more definite lines of stem and veins 
may be added in stronger color. 


Brush IN water color painting there are two 

Drawing* ^ distinctly different methods of 
using the colors and the brush. The more elemen¬ 
tary of these, which may be more correctly called 
brush-drawing, consists in the use of one color only, 
which perhaps may preferably be one of the grays, 


42 


WATER COLORS 


warm, cool or neutral, rather than a definite color, 
although for variety any color may be chosen. 
The exercises in this work are entirely free hand, 
with the brush, without any outline guides. One 
stroke of the brush may represent a leaf, or several 
strokes grouped a compound leaf. This kind of 
touch often produces in each stroke of the brush a 
delicately shaded effect of leaf or flower. This 
peculiar method of work has been very popular 
abroad if we may judge from the illustrated matter 
published. But in this country the work has more 
generally taken the form of free hand silhouette 
painting of leaf, spray, flower, branch with foliage, 
etc., without attempt at shading in each separate 
touch of the brush. 


The Pleasures A competent writer says regarding 
of Painting, water color painting: “ In 

the expression of light, air and vapor, the trans¬ 
parent, delicate tones of water colors are peculiarly 
truthful. The hazy radiance of the summer day, 
the glowing glories of the evening sky, the un¬ 
earthly loveliness of the moonlight, may be depicted 
in this better than in any other medium ! ” “Though 
perfection is hardly within the reach of the amateur 
he may attain a very high degree of proficiency, 
and the pursuit itself, besides elevating his taste and 
developing his perceptions, will afford a refined 
pleasure peculiarly its own.” The excursionist who 
can sketch from nature in water colors enjoys a 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM . 


43 


great advantage; for whether he visits the mossy 
ruins of some historic castle, or gazes on the wild 
array of volcanic rocks, or stands at the margin of 
some mountain lake, he can, if he pleases, sit down 
and record in water-color much of the beauty and 
grandeur of the scene ; enough at least to recall the 
reality most vividly to his mind, and with that, 
much of the enjoyment of the time.” The truth 
of this will be vouched for by every individual who 
has made even the most elementary efforts in this 
direction. There is a personality that does not 
attach to a photograph and the pleasure of referring 
to such records increases as the time passes, and the 
date in the corner or the memory carries one back 
to associations possibly with those friends who 
have gone on before or have been lost in the changes 
and fortunes of years. 


Pupils must CKETCHING from nature is vastly 
Learn to see different from copying other 

Correctly, pictures, chiefly because it is so 
difficult to see and interpret correctly the colors of 
natural objects, while in a picture the colors are 
easily recognized. When we are able to see truly the 
forms of objects, notwithstanding their perspective 
distortions, it is comparatively easy to make a good 
drawing, and so when our eyes have been trained to 
see color as it really is, both in its hues and its 
tones, then it is quite a simple thing to paint. 

Therefore, all the work in color comparisons, 


44 


WA TER COLORS 


which tends to the training of true color percep¬ 
tions, is most valuable, whether it is done with the 
colored papers of the Kindergarten or by the study 
of water colors, either in the advanced grades or 
in the studio. 

In nature work you must never choose a par¬ 
ticular pigment because you know that such is the 
color of the object under normal conditions. The 
light and shade and surroundings modify everything 
that has color, and hence, before painting correctly 
one must learn to see correctly, after which a 
knowledge of pigments will determine which one to 
use to produce the effect wanted. If a green shrub 
is illuminated by a red sunset there will be relatively 
little green in a correct interpretation of the shrub, 
because there is practically no green in the high 
light reflected from the object, and but little from 
the shadows. 

The colors are modified by the atmosphere, 
whether clear or hazy. When a student has learned 
to see the true conditions and to imitate them, he 
may still fall far short of highest art, but he has 
overcome a great part of the obstacles in his way. 

Never Retouch 1\TEVER make a sketch from 
an Original nature and then attempt to 

Sketch* finish it up at home. If you 

think you can improve on it, take another sheet of 
paper and repaint it as you think it ought to be. 
Then take it out and compare it with the natural 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


45 


scene, and in all probability you will be greatly 
disappointed, and perhaps more or less instructed. 
Many a student has thrown aside a first sketch and 
later been surprised to find that it was far superior 
to a finished copy. 

On this point a competent artist and writer has 
well said: “Lastly, never touch your original 
sketch after you leave the spot. A sketch on the 
spot possesses a reality and freshness that you 
will seek in vain to give it afterwards. You will 
have to be taught by it, though it is your own work, 
for you were learning, when you made the sketch, 
of the great teacher, Nature. What you then put 
down was Nature’s lesson to you ; and if you touch 
it when away from her influence, you may obliterate 
the result of her valuable instructions.” 

The Brewster TT may not be out of the way to 
Theory of ^ reiterate a word of warning 
Color* about the three color theory, which 

has been incidentally referred to on a previous page, 
as there are some teachers and school officers 
who still seem to think that just as good work can 
be done with only red, yellow and blue as with the 
six standards, and that there is great economy in 
the use of the three colors. We have already 
shown that there can be no saving of material, and 
as to the other point, it is singular that every in¬ 
dividual at all acquainted with color effects cannot 
see at once that the result of mixing colors is 


46 


WA TER COLORS 


always a loss of brilliancy. It would seem to be 
no longer necessary to argue the point that the 
three colors, orange, green and violet, made from 
red, yellow and blue, will necessarily be impure and, 
hence, that all of their combinations will be impure. 

Even with six standards there is considerable loss 
in the union of two adjacent colors, as red and 
orange for example, and much more when the orange 
is skipped and the red and yellow combined. 

The following has been published as the state¬ 
ment of a prominent teacher of drawing, and 
expresses the opinion of many good artists and 
teachers who have received their education in color 
through professional artists without giving the 
subject careful and broad examination, based on 
modern methods of color analysis. 

“The advantage to children in being furnished 
with only these primary colors and allowed to com¬ 
bine them for the secondary and tertiary colors, 
tints and tones, I consider most valuable from an 
educational standpoint.” 

What would be the professional standing of a 
teacher of music who, from some fancied economy, 
should accept a musical instrument for the school¬ 
room in which every second note was very much 
lower in tone than it ought to be, while the other 
half retained their correct pitch! Such a question 
raises a smile, and the suggestion is received as a 
joke, but it is a very serious question when we con¬ 
sider that in color, just this fearful mistake is being 
perpetrated, to the permanent injury of every child 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


47 


brought under such influence. It is a fact not to 
be disputed, that when only red, yellow and blue 
water color paints are used, every color made 
by their combinations is a more or less broken color, 
as will be seen by comparison with the original three 
as standards. And, further, without the addition 
to the equipment of some gray pigment, there is no 
provision whatever for producing true shades of red, 
yellow and blue. 

It is thus evident that too much is sacrificed when 
the number of paints is reduced to three, and that 
instead of being more simple the processes become 
more complicated and beyond the easy compre¬ 
hension of young children. The result is the 
spreading of false instruction without a saving in 
money or labor, while six colors in close imitation 
of the M. B. Co., spectrum standards, and two or 
three grays, provide the most satisfactory outfit of 
colors ever devised for elementary instruction. 





Light do not 



tinge given to the atmosphere 


by the sun’s rays does not turn, as might be expect¬ 
ed, its blue tints into green, because the pearly gray 
still left in the shadows untouched by the yellow 
light interposes a neutral tint, which from its 
opacity prevents the mingling of the colors.” 

This extract from a valuable hand book on sketch¬ 
ing from nature, in color, is but one illustration of 


48 


WATER COLORS 


the effect produced by the popular error that yellow 
light and blue light when mingled produce green, 
because yellow paint and blue paint when combined 
produce a green; and the quotation is here intro¬ 
duced to enforce the danger involved in the use of 
only the three paints, red, yellow and blue in 
elementary instruction in color. By the use of 
colored papers based on six spectrum colors, the 
child of the Kindergarten or our modern primary 
school learns much of color which is truthful and 
may be of the greatest value in the later use of paints, 
provided such paints correspond with the colors 
already familiar in the papers which he has used. 
But if at this stage water colors in red, yellow and 
blue are introduced and the green must be made 
from yellow and blue or the orange from red and 
yellow, the very error is perpetuated which caused 
this writer to publish an explanation of a scientific 
fact which does not exist, when he stated that 
yellow and blue light ought to make green were it 
not for the imagined fact that “ the pearly gray still 
left in the shadows untouched by the yellow light 
interposes a neutral tint , which from its opacity pre¬ 
vents the mingling of the colors.” Not only is this 
explanation untruthful but it is an unnecessary and 
ambiguous attempt to explain a phenomenon which 
does not exist, but is one of the untruths which 
must, in fact if not in words, be taught to every child 
whose color instruction is based on the Brewster 
error of red, yellow and blue primaries, orange, 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


49 


green and purple secondaries, and russet, citrine 
and olive tertiaries. 

This point is here reiterated because it seems 
almost a hopeless task to disabuse the present gen¬ 
eration of this false idea of Sir David Brewster 
which has so long passed as truth without con¬ 
tradiction outside of scientific writings. 


Popularity of TITITHOUT doubt water color 
Water Color painting in all its varieties 

Painting* has ma( j e wonderful progress in 
popularity and value during the past half century. 
Fifty years ago it consisted of but little more than 
the application of pale washes of color to pencil out¬ 
lines, but now it is making rapid strides in com¬ 
petition with the best work in oil. True each 
has its own field, and comparison is unnecessary, but 
one thing is evident, that the relative simplicity of 
materials and processes, together with the possible 
rapidity of execution, renders the work of much 
more value as an education in form and color than 
any other process. 

The great charm of water color painting lies in 
the beauty and truthfulness of its aerial tones, and 
hence arises its peculiar adaptation to the repre¬ 
sentation of skies and distances. 

The production of these beautiful effects is due 
largely to the granulous surface of the paper which 
presents small hollows and corresponding pro¬ 
jections. This surface , receiving the semi-trans- 


50 


WA TER COLORS 


parent washes of color, shows alternations of light 
on the higher parts and half lights in the hollows. 

This feature is so valuable in water color paint¬ 
ing that the artist should be careful not to lose the 
effect, which gives an atmosphere to the water color 
not produced by body paint in oil or pastel or in 
fact by body water colors. Much depends on 
aerial effects, and the water colors of an artist who 
understands his material and is in sympathy with 
Nature need fear no competition with body colors 
of any kind. 

Not many years ago, the ability to paint flowers 
of a stereotyped pattern, in faint washes on pencil 
outlines, was a fashionable accomplishment for 
young women, and comprised all that was popularly 
known of this branch of art, but to-day the facinat- 
ing work of painting in water colors is making its 
way into all the lines of art where the supremacy 
was formerly held by oil. 

The improvement made in water color pigments, 
within the knowledge of the present generation has 
been a large factor in the popularity attained by 
this class of work. For quick work it far excels all 
the possibilities of oil, and in many cases an effect 
can be caught which would be impossible with any 
other medium. 

This popularity is not confined to America as is 
witnessed by this extract from an English book: 
“The art of painting in water colors has attained 
in this country so high a state of perfection as to 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


51 


be undoubtedly placed in successful competition 
with the time honored sister art of oil painting.” 

The Six Spectrum A modern writer on Water 
Colors and two Color painting truthfully 

Grays* says: “It is difficult enough 

to learn to handle color when the paints are of the 
best quality, even in tone, finely ground, clear, and 
free from lumps and impurities; but when the 
student has to contend with not only his own 
ignorance and clumsiness, but with defects of 
material which would irritate a skillful artist, he 
has need of an exceptional amount of patience to 
enable him to persist in the effort to learn.” 

There is of course no occasion for buying the most 
expensive colors for school use with small children. 
Permanency in colors is a very difficult quality to 
secure, and the best artist is often forced to use 
pigments which are not altogether satisfactory in 
hue or working qualities because they must have a 
very good degree of permanency. This is not as 
important in school colors as the free and smooth 
working qualities, and the close match of the pig¬ 
ments to the standard colors with which the pupils 
have become familiar, and which they know will 
produce certain other colors when mixed with each 
other. With six spectrum colors and two grays the 
combinations of pigments are practically the same 
as have been familiar to the pupils in the color disks 
of the school color wheel or the top. With these 


52 


WATER COLORS 


six spectrum colors a better line of combination 
colors as seen in nature and the arts can be made 
than with any other equal number of colors that can 
be selected. Even with this high praise there re¬ 
main a few colors which cannot be perfectly imitated. 
Carmine furnishes a very pure slightly violet red 
which cannot be equaled in purity and brilliancy by 
standard red modified with violet. 

In primary school work with water colors the 
chief qualities are truth in color, ready mixing and 
smooth flowing. The essential thing is to save the 
time of teacher and pupil, and for this purpose the 
moist and semi-most paints are best, on account of 
their ready-mixing quality. The moist colors keep 
their semi-fluid state a long time if kept close in the 
tubes. Ordinarily a small quantity left on the mix¬ 
ing pan will wash up readily within two or three 
days. There are some colors which are naturally 
of such drying nature that it is difficult to combine 
in them free-flowing qualities and also to secure 
ready washing or mixing if left exposed to the air 
several days. 

Interesting; ^HE phenomena of complementary 
Color A colors are of great importance in 

Harmonies* the study of color harmonies, and the 
more the effects are examined the more beautiful 
and interesting this phase of color investigation 
becomes, even to the youngest pupil, but much more 
so to the art student, especially in nature study. 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


53 


Criticism is often made of the use of certain blue 
and purple effects in the shadows of landscape 
painting. For example, suppose we have a moss- 
covered boulder or the gray trunk of a tree, in 
shadow, and, near by, some green and yellow foliage, 
brightly illuminated by the sun. Now if the 
shadows on the boulder and tree trunk are painted 
a decided blue or purple, rather than a neutral gray, 
modified by the natural color of the objects, such 
treatment will be apt to be criticised as untruthful, 
although the same critics may admit that the effect 
is pleasing but, as they believe, unnatural. 

And yet this treatment, in certain cases, may be 
perfectly legitimate, and possibly a homely experi¬ 
ment or two in color vision may demonstrate its 
usefulness. 


An Experiment in T’HERE is one simple experi- 
Complementary ment which can be tried 

Contrast* j n aD y r0 om where the Wells- 

bach gas burner, now so generally introduced, has 
been put on the same fixture with one or more of the 
old style of burners. The Wellsbach flame is a near 
approach to white light when compared with the 
ordinary coal gas flame, which is practically an 
orange yellow light. These are so different that we 
may, for the present purpose, call one white and 
the other yellow or orange yellow. 

Now suppose one each of these lights is burning 
in a room and that the walls or ceilings are of light 
gray or dull white. Place an opaque object so as 


54 


WATER COLORS 


to cast a shadow from the coal gas light upon the 
gray walls. We shall then have the ceiling illumi¬ 
nated by both lights except in this shadow which is 
relatively neutral gray, because illuminated only by 
the Wellsbach burner. Now, for the experiment, 
fix your eyes on the part of the ceiling where the 
shadow from the coal gas light is located, but not 
too constantly or entirely on the shadow, but rather 
moving back and forth across it. Very soon this 
surface, which does not seem to be a shadow at all, 
begins to look blue, and after a few moments of 
close attention, the result will be a very decided 
blue shadow on the ceiling. 

This is the complementary contrast to the yellow 
gas light which illuminates the ceiling, and from this 
simple experience, which is so common that few 
have ever noticed it, we have a key to the beauties 
in the landscapes which are so pleasing, but which 
we are seldom able to analize. 

Referring again to our green trees and their gray 
trunks beside the boulder, what may we expect to 
see ? The mass of green foliage in the bright sun¬ 
light is brilliant and strongly impresses the retina 
of the eye when it is fixed on it for an instant, 
and then when it is turned to the gray stone, back 
and forth, there comes to the boulder and tree trunk, 
in the shadow, a very decided impression of pur¬ 
ples, from violet red to violet blue, because of the 
complementary to the yellow greens of various hues. 

The effect of the sunlight and shadow in nature is 
so much more intense than any pigments can produce, 




IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


55 


that in order to secure the same impressions, they 
must be to some extent put into the painting. How 
far it is desirable to carry out this illusion, is for 
artists and connoisseurs to say, but the fact that 
such treatment is accepted as pleasing warrants its 
practice, and it is well to know the reasons for it, 
even though it is not practicable in most elementary 
work. 

The Study THE use of pigments brings out 
of Tints many peculiar facts which seem 

and Shades* ^o ou tside of known laws, and 
which are hardly recognized by those unacquainted 
with the various phenomena connected with this 
fascinating subject. 

Among such facts are the interesting results ob¬ 
tained from the study of tints and shades* There 
are several methods of producing these results. 
One natural method is by increasing and decreasing 
the amount of illumination on an object. If we 
suppose the normal color to be represented by the 
object illuminated by the ordinary daylight at noon 
with the sun obscured by white clouds, then the 
extreme limits of tint and shade would be shown 
by full sunlight on the one hand and deep shadow 
on the other. 

For imitating these effects in art, as for example 
in painting a landscape or other subject, it is neces¬ 
sary to produce the color effects by the use of pig¬ 
ments, and the natural statement would be that for 

tints of red or yellow, for example, we should 



56 


WA TER COLORS 


mix white pigment with the color, and for shades, 
black pigment. But it is only necessary to make a 
few critical experiments to demonstrate that the 
tones so produced will not agree in hue with the cor¬ 
responding tones of nature under similar conditions. 

In water color painting the above method is more 
generally modified by using thin washes of color 
on white paper for all tints, or tones lighter than the 
normal color of the pigment, by which we mean its 
most effective strength to show its color. In some 
cases the pigment selected for producing shades 
must be a modification of black in order to produce 
the true results. For example, black mixed with 
yellow gives a color far too green for a true shade 
of yellow. 

Fortunately, we are not limited to black pigment 
for determining true shades. As we have seen, the 
disks of the color top furnish a series of shades 
practically like the natural shadow, but in making 
tints, the white disk does not as perfectly serve 
our purpose as does the black disk in making 
shades, and therefore we must rely more directly on 
the study of natural tints made by increased illumi¬ 
nation up to full or concentrated sunlight. Un¬ 
fortunately, in this line of investigation, there is 
no method as simple and definite for tints as we find 
in the black disks for making true shades. But while 
the white disk with a color disk does not give a 
tint of the color as pure and truthful as is the shade 
produced by the black disk, still there is no doubt 
much of value to be secured from experiments with 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM . 


57 


the white disk ? because in its use we have a , 
mathematical approximation to the tones, although 
they lack purity, in fact are too gray. But 
the tints caused by increased illumination must 
be considered the true tints because it is nature’s 
method, and art, at its best, can only imitate nature 
and is never good art if it violates natural laws. 

All artificial tints seem to differ from those of 
nature, and as yet there appear to be no means for 
systematic comparison by which to obtain standards. 
Even if it were possible to obtain true tints in pure 
white light, the variable atmospheric conditions 
would quite materially modify the results. 

Some Difficul- TT is a fact that two pigments 
ties in Color which in their fullest express- 

Sttidy* ion are no t 1 distinguished 

from each other, are often very unlike when diluted 
and applied to white paper. Why ? 

It must be the first aim in the solution of such 
problems to determine the variations of these so- 
called tints from true daylight or sunlight tints. 
No doubt some simple apparatus may be devised to 
accomplish this, and in fact the writer has made 
several suggestions and a few crude experiments in 
this direction and nothing can be more interesting 
to a student in color whether definite results are 
immediately accomplished or not. 

No true white or black disk is possible, but the 
same may be said of the spectrum colors, whether 


58 


WATER COLORS 


in disks or pigments. Therefore the result of their 
combinations cannot be higher than the standards. 

Because of these difficulties in color investigation, 
it has seemed to many that there is nothing to be 
definitely known about color and therefore they 
have been satisfied to leave it in the condition in 
which it exists in a majority of minds. What is 
good art in color, can never be determined until 
there is an accepted popular language in which to 
discuss it. In form and sound we have such a 
language, as has been said, but in color we have 
not even in theory a universally accepted alphabet, 
much less the results which might be expressed 
with such an alphabet in common use. 

In many of the conditions attending the in¬ 
vestigations relating to tints and shades, the effects 
when studied logically and closely are very interest¬ 
ing, and so little has been done in a systematic way 
that any experimenter along modern lines may have 
the pleasure of discovering for himself color truths 
never before recorded and classified. For example 
in the popular water color known as Windsor & 
Newton’s Payne’s gray, three tones from deep to 
light analyzed by the top are as follows: No. 1, 
deep, V.5.-N.95, which is a very dark violet shade. 
No. 2, medium, B.7-W.4-N.89, a broken blue , 
much lighter than No. 1. No. 3, light, G.2-B. 
10-W. 5-N. 83, which is still lighter in tone and 
a greenish blue. These three formulae are from 
the same pigments used in different degrees of 
dilution, and it will be seen that as the tone 


IN THE SCHOLROOOM. 


59 


changes, the hue is different; the first a violet 
shade, the second a broken blue, and the third a 
broken green-blue. 

Yellow ochre in a strong mixture applied full 
strength gives 0.43-Y.36-N.21 and a lighter 
broken color is 0.22-Y.55-W.14-N. 9. In the 
first we have a dark broken yellow-orange, and 
in the second a light broken orange-yellow. This 
change in hue with change in tone or depth or 
intensity of color furnishes a subject for investiga¬ 
tion. Do the same or similar changes occur in 
nature as the light is increased or diminished ? If 
so, important phenomena in color are involved and 
should be definitely investigated. To those who 
have the leisure there can be no more interesting 
subject for study than color, and it is only by such 
work that the needed knowledge of color phenomena 
can be increased. 

If these phases of the subject are due to pig¬ 
mentary effects or characteristics, without any di¬ 
rect relation to the phenomena of light and shade, 
then most surely the whole subject is of great im¬ 
portance to artists who attempt to imitate nature 
truthfully. If certain pigments assume false hues 
as they are changed to produce required tones, the 
artist must correct the hue at every change in tone. 
If one pigment retains its true hues with change 
of tone, while another assumes false hues, then 
such facts should be made a matter of record and 
the necessary corrections made if, because of cer¬ 
tain qualities, the pigment is required in the sub¬ 
ject or composition. 


60 


WATER COLORS 


Analysis of IN addition to the colors above 

Popular Broken named, there are several 
Colors. popular water colors which are 

so broken that a close analysis is necessary to de¬ 
termine the true color of each. But with the simple 
color top this analysis can be made and the name 
very easily determined. 

In the formulae given the initials R. O. Y. G. B. 
and Y. represent the standards, red, orange, 
yellow, green, blue and violet, while W. stands for 
white. As B. has already been adopted for blue, 
black is represented by N. from the word niger. 

Burnt Sienna i ^ deep mixture, 0.32-N.68. 
um lenna, { Medium, 0.45_Y.n-W.7-N.37. 

Burnt Umber, | Deep ’ O.li'-W.l-N. 87 ' 

( Medium, 0.25-Y.13-W.8-N.54. 

Vandyke Brown, { Deep ’ °-H- Y - 2 - w - 4 - N -83. 

i Medium,0.12-Y.15-W.17-N.56 

Brown Madder, \ Deep ’ R - 2 °-°- 12 - w - 2 - N - 66 - 

( Medium, R.30-O.25-W.20-N.25 

Raw Sienna, | Deep, 0.34-Y.15-N.51. 

1 Medium, 0.26-Y.42-W.15-N.17. 

Sepia f Very deep, O.l-Y.l-N.98. 

P (Medium, O.3-Y.5-W.10-N.82. 


Neutral Tint, { Deep ’ v - 8 - w - 5 ~ N - 8 7. 

(Medium, B.2-Y.8-W.13-N.77. 

In several of these analyses, the change in hue 
from the deeper to the lighter is indicated. 

Burnt sienna, deep, is a dark shade of orange, 
while the medium tone is a broken shade of yellow- 
orange. 


IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


61 


In burnt umber, there is a similar effect. 

In Vandyke brown, the deep toue is a broken, 
slightly yellow, orange, while the medium tone is 
an orange-yellow. 

In brown madder, each tone is a broken orange- 
red, but the lighter tone is a more orange hue than 
the other. 

For raw sienna, we have in the deep tone, a 
yellow-orange and in the lighter an orange-yellow. 

Sepia, in the deeper tone shows equal parts of 
orange and yellow, but in the medium, it is quite 
decidedly an orange-red. 

Neutral tint is not neutral at all, but in the 
deeper tone is a broken violet, while in the medium 
it is a blue violet. 

The difference in the pigments of two manufactur¬ 
ers is seen in the following examples of another 
prominent firm, compared with the same names 
in the foregoing list. 

Burnt Umber. \ Deep ’ °- 4 “ Y - 2 - N - 94 

(Medium, 0.15-Y.12-W.9-N.64. 

„ , , ^ ( Deep, O.3-Y.4-W.24-N.90U 

* (Medium, 0.7-Y.8-W.7-N.78. 


„ . ( Deep, 0.2-Y.1-W.2-N.95. 

epla ’ ( Medium,' O.3-Y.2-W.10-N.85. 

These examples are given here merely to show 
the value of the simple color analysis which the 
color top renders available to every primary school 
pupil or art student. 

The claim is not put forth that with the top the 
accurate analysis can be made which is possible with 


62 


WA TER COLORS 


the larger disks of the school color wheels, but with 
even this little toy a color nomenclature and analysis 
never before dreamed of is made simple and popu¬ 
lar, even with the children. 





Showing the 
Lamentable State 


of Color Language, effort to describe colors may 
often do more than argument, to call attention to 
the great need of a more accurate color nomenclature. 
The following extracts are from an elegant and 
sober publication on needle work. 

“ The ground is a low toned oatmeal color, ap¬ 
proaching brown paper.” 

TThat could be more intelligent and definite than 
that, for a description of color? 

“ The ground is an ivory-colored satin ; the cross 
and outer band are oyster-gray satin.” 

This is just as clear as the other, although the 
simile is transferred from the vegetable to the 
animal kingdom. 

Some of the designs are described as being “ out¬ 
lined with pale string-colored cord.” 

It seems hardly possible that such definitions 
could be used seriously in any publication of merit 
and value, such as this little book certainly is. But 
the following is little better than the last, be¬ 
cause there is nearly as much variety in biscuits as 
in strings: “The ground is a pale, ecru linen and 
the work a darker, biscuit shade.” 




IN THE SCHOOLROOM. 


63 


The fact that such a series of extracts can be 
made from one small volume leaves no question as 
to the necessity for strenuous efforts on the part of all 
educators to reform or rather entirely reconstruct, 
the nomenclature of one of the most interesting 
phenomena of nature. 

The Bradley system provides for a method of 
naming colors which is as simple as it is natural, 
of which a brief explanation is given on pages 11 
and 12 of this book. It will there be seen that 
such absurd and meaningless terms as ‘‘string- 
color ” and “biscuit shade,” are entirely unneces¬ 
sary. All these colors, which are so mysterious 
that they have baffled the world to give them dis¬ 
tinguishing names, are now analysed by the color 
top and named in terms as definite as those which 
describe the dimensions of material objects or the 
tones of the musical scale. 







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